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Central Catholic gives national boys hoop power St. Anthony's all it could handle

Dan Ventura Saturday, December 29, 2012

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Brighton couldn't stay with national power St. Anthony's on the opening day of the Shooting Touch Shootout. Many assumed Central Catholic would follow suit and provide little challenge to the New Jersey basketball dynasty.

Many assumed wrong.

The Raiders gave the heavily-favored Friars all they could handle before falling, 54-50, at Emmanuel College. A sellout crowd showed their appreciation for Central Catholic's effort by awarding them a standing ovation as they trudged off the floor last night.

"I knew people were saying we were going to lose by 35 points or something like that," said junior guard Tyler Nelson, who scored 12 points and dished out six assists. "But we weren't scared of them. We just went out there and played hard."

Let's face it, St. Anthony is a great team and deserves all its accolades. Part of that is the mystique, one in which teams are literally petrified of the Friars and the results eventually speak for themselves.

Central Catholic sent an early message that it was not going to be cannon fodder. The Raiders made their first five shots from the floor and ended the first quarter deadlocked at 16.

"We told them we could not play scared. If anyone was scared to play, then stay in the locker room," Nault said. "We started strong and everyone fed off of that. I thought Lucas Hammel (five assists) set the tone right away with his play early on."

The Raiders maintained their sound defensive play throughout the first half, leaving the floor trailing by two (25-23). If anyone thought Central Catholic was content with merely playing one good half of basketball, that notion was dispelled as they opened the third quarter by scoring the first seven points to take a 30-25 lead.

To their credit, St. Anthony's regrouped and relied on senior guard Hallice Cooke to get them through the drought. The 6-foot-3 standout scored seven straight points and 10 in the quarter as the Friars rallied to take a 41-38 lead into the final stanza.

Every time the Friars looked like they were ready to pull away, back came the Raiders. They got as close as 52-50 on a trey by Nelson, but Cooke sealed the deal with two free throws with two seconds left.

"We knew they had some great players from playing with the BABC," Cambio said. "But we showed we could play with them. "